Writer Employment Agreement

Summary

This form is a writer employment agreement between a writer and production company for services in connection with a motion picture. This template includes practical guidance, drafting notes, alternate clauses, and optional clauses. From the writer's viewpoint, the principal concerns of the long form writer employment agreement are: (i) what is the writer being hired to write; (ii) how long does the writer have to write the particular work; (iii) how much will the writer be paid; and (iv) what provisions apply to the determination of the writer's credit. Since a writer's employment agreement is a form of work-for-hire agreement, the production company, as the hiring entity, will own the work product and will be the "author" for copyright purposes. Nevertheless, for the purpose of determining screen credit, the agreement may be subject to the Writers Guild of America Basic Agreement in which case, the credit determination will be governed by the procedures of the Writers Guild of ...